ON the first day of Ireland's smoking ban, Paddy Shennan went on a Dublin pub crawl - to see how drinkers felt about the new legislation.

THERE was clearly something in the air in Dublin yesterday. Not cigarette smoke, but revolution. A social revolution.

It was standing room only at the city's pubs. Or at least it was for the smokers.

New, mini armies of unwanted puffers were left out in the cold as Ireland's workplace smoking ban came into effect.

They stood shuffling in doorways, some were huffing, all were puffing. Many smiled at the non-smoking punters walking past them into the warm, welcoming bars. Others silently fumed.

Many non-smokers had dreamt of this moment for decades, many smokers had dreaded it.

Last orders had sounded for the evil weed. It had been barred. For good.

But where there was smoke, you could, at times, find a fire of indignation. Outside Davy Byrne's in Duke Street - a famous Dublin pub, name-checked by James Joyce in his Ulysses - Colin Dwyer, 34, told me: "There is something wrong when you can no longer enjoy a cigarette with your drink.

"I am standing outside because I have never broken the law and I am not going to start now. But if you are going to have laws like this, you have to enforce them across the board.

"I was on a bus this morning and there was a teenager smoking cannabis. But nothing was done about it, which is an absolutely ludicrous situation."

Inside, barman Jim Maloney, 54, had some sympathy: "I am not a smoker but smokers have rights and their social lives have suddenly changed overnight."

As, he adds, has his role: "It shouldn't be up to us to have to police this; I'm a barman not a lawman."

However, Ireland's minister for health Micheal Martin says the ban has the support of the majority of people in Ireland - "smokers and non-smokers alike."

And, he stresses, it is about much more than stopping people smoking in pubs and restaurants.

"The smoke-free initiative is aimed at indoor workplaces generally, to try to ensure that protection from toxic tobacco smoke is provided for employees across the board." Smoking will still be permitted in some enclosed workplaces, including prisons, nursing homes and psychiatric hospitals.

Environmental health officers will be responsible for enforcing the ban - those caught breaking the new law face fines of 3,000 Euros (just over £2,000).

Mr Martin adds: "I acknowledge that adapting to the new measure will require some adjustment and will not be entirely problem-free. However, I am confident that people will adjust.

"Most people are law-abiding and responsible and I am confident that the vast majority of employers, employees and the public will respect the new measure."

Davy Byrne's has always been a relatively light and airy pub, but walking into a smoke-free Doheny and Nesbitt's in Lower Baggot Street, was one of the strangest experiences of my drinking career.

If, before yesterday, I had been asked to name Dublin's most traditional, smoky boozers, this place would have been towards the very top of the list.

"We had a terrible lunchtime today. There are more people in here this evening, but the atmosphere doesn't seem right.

"Having said that though, the best comment I've heard was from a bloke who said he's getting the chance to talk to loads of new women when he goes outside for a smoke!"

Dublin-born customer Ruth Benson, 41, says: "I've lived in London for the last 15 years, where there just isn't the pub culture that exists in Ireland." Despite being a light smoker, she adds: "If this ban works, it will be fantastic, but I think it will be very challenging - not least for the bar staff, who I don't envy at all. It will also be very interesting to see how many people stay at home and drink the wine and beer bought in their local supermarket."

More than 80% of the Irish population is said to be in favour of the ban and the media has also come out strongly in its support.

Outside McDaid's in Harry Street - where the writer Brendan Behan is said to have drowned his talent in Guinness - smoker John McKenna, 27, says: "I was planning to give up today, but I've already had cigarettes outside a cafe, outside a pub, and just walking through the streets.

"But I do think the ban is a good idea. I may not have given up yet, but if I was allowed to smoke in these places, I would probably have smoked much more today."

Inside, barmaid Catherine Pryce, 23, tells me: "I think most people are welcoming the ban. A lot I have spoken to are going to try and use it to give up smoking.

"But it is going to be hard to implement, especially at weekends when the city centre is so busy. And I think problems could also be created by the extra numbers of people who will be smoking in the streets and pub doorways."

However, at Bowe's in Fleet Street, bar manager James Murphy, 38, is totally behind the ban. He says: "I think it's a necessary step and a visionary piece of legislation. It is giving something positive to the next generation - clean air.

"We've not had any problems yet. One or two people have come in smoking, but have put out their cigarettes after realising their mistake. But it will be more testing for bar staff at the weekend when large groups of people come out together."

At this point, a customer walks past us and asks when a beer garden is going to be built at the back of the pub.

In Dublin's famous Temple Bar district - which attracts stag and hen parties from across the UK - Sebastian Paul, 19, from Poland, puffs at another cigarette outside the Auld Dubliner, but says: "I think the ban is a good thing. If people have a problem with it, then it's simple - don't smoke!

"Yes, I'm smoking now - outside in the cold - but it's my choice to smoke."

Further up the road, outside the Palace Bar in Fleet Street, Gavin Tracey, 27, from Dublin, says: "I am definitely not a fan of smoking out in the cold. If this doesn't help me stop, nothing will.

"Having said that, there's every danger I'll start again in the summer, when it's warmer!"

It was strange walking around Dublin and seeing so many more people than usual smoking in the streets. But it was stranger still to walk into traditional Dublin boozers and see nobody smoking.

But if it can happen here, why can't it happen in Dublin's twin city ... Liverpool?

Is Liverpool next to go smoke-free?

WHERE New York and Ireland lead, will Liverpool follow?

While Ireland introduced its ban on smoking in the workplace - including pubs and restaurants - yesterday, authorities in New York were today celebrating the first anniversary of similar legislation.

Campaigners are now hoping Liverpool will adopt its own smoke-free initiative.

Chris Owens, co-ordinator of the SmokeFree Liverpool group, says: "We welcome the introduction of a smoking ban in Ireland.

"There is tangible evidence from New York - in the form of a 12% increase in bar revenues and the creation of 10,000 extra jobs in the hospitality industry - that clean air is good for business.

"But more important than that is the positive effect it will have on the health of people who work and socialise in these establishments.

"And we believe Liverpool's close cultural links with New York and our twin city of Dublin will be an asset in our bid to become the first smoke-free city in the UK."

She adds: "Visitor numbers are up in New York and now Tourism Ireland, which promotes Ireland abroad, is using the smoking ban to boost its own visitor numbers. We believe a smoke-free Liverpool will also attract more people to our city."

Meanwhile, SmokeFree Liverpool, a partnership of health and community organisations, is encouraging businesses across Liverpool to develop policies which will protect their workers from second-hand tobacco smoke.

And, in support of this, it will be promoting the National Clean Air Award, which was launched by the Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation last week.